Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The ongoing feud between original KISS members as they approach their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has landed the band on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time in their 40 year history.

A classic 1975 photo of the original KISS lineup leads fans to a cover story on the group, who hold nothing back about the animosity that will keep them from performing at the induction ceremony in their New York hometown on April 10.

Rolling Stone reports Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons offered to allow founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss to jam with KISS' current lineup, featuring guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, but the pair found that proposition deeply insulting.

"I won’t be disrespected," Criss says. "How can you put me in the Hall of Fame and then tell me to go sit over there in the corner while another guy puts on my makeup and plays? That’s an injustice. To the fans, too."

Still bitter over incidents of drug and alcohol abuse that are decades-old, Simmons and Stanley can’t find a way to put the past aside for a three-song performance as a sign of respect to their history, legacy, and for the fans who supported them from the early days.

Simmons says that Frehley and Criss "no longer deserve to wear the paint." "The makeup is earned," he adds. "Just being there at the beginning is not enough… And if you blow it for yourself, it's your fault. You can’t blame your band members. 'Oh, look what happened to me. Oh, poor me.' Look at my little violin. I have no sympathy."

Frehley suggests another reason for the current members' reluctance: "The reason they don’t want to perform with me and Peter is because the last time they did, they had to do a reunion tour. We play three songs, the fans go crazy. They don't want to open up a can of worms."

Frehley, meanwhile, says he licensed – rather than sold ¬– the rights to his Spaceman makeup to the band, and suggests that he’s due to get the rights back sometime soon, while Simmons says he’s only likely to do another two or three tours before packing it in.

On April 10, the original lineup of KISS will be inducted into the Rock Hall along with Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt; the ceremony will be held at New York’s Barclays Center and HBO will record the event for broadcast in May.